1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle and in particular to control of a vehicle that can be charged by electric power supplied from an external power source external to the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, focus is put on a vehicle, regarded as an environmentally conscious vehicle, that is equipped with an electricity storage device, such as a secondary battery or a capacitor, and runs using the driving force generated by the electric power stored in the electricity storage device. Examples of such a vehicle include pure electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. Technologies for charging the electricity storage devices installed in these vehicles with the use of the commercial power source that is generated with high efficiency are proposed.
Even in the case of hybrid vehicles, there are vehicles, in which the electricity storage device mounted on the vehicle can be charged (hereinafter also referred to merely as the “external charging operation”) by a power source external to the vehicle (hereinafter also referred to merely as the “external power source”) as in the case of the pure electric vehicles. For example, what is called the “plug-in hybrid vehicle” is known, in which the electricity storage device can be charged by the domestic electric power source by connecting a charging port provided in the vehicle to the outlet, or power point, in a home via a charging cable. It can be expected that the fuel consumption/efficiency of a hybrid vehicle be improved.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-227218 (JP-A-2009-227218) describes a configuration of a vehicle that can be driven by a plurality of sources of energy as in the case of hybrid vehicles and that has a plurality of energy supply ports, such as a fuel inlet port and a charging port, in which control is performed so that, when the lid of one energy supply port is opened, the lid of another energy supply port is prevented from being opened. According to JP-A-2009-227218, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a situation, in which a charging operation that can produce sparks is performed simultaneously with a refueling operation for refueling highly volatile fuel, and it is also possible to prevent the occurrence of a situation, in which charging is performed through a plurality of charging ports simultaneously. Thus, it is possible to perform the operation for supplying the energy safely and smoothly in the vehicle that has a plurality of energy supply ports.
In a vehicle that has a plurality of energy supply ports, there is a case where, when charging from an external energy source is performed through one charging port, the high voltage applied in this charging operation is applied to the connection terminals of another charging port. In general, there is a case where a protection portion for protecting a charging port, such as an openable door, is provided for the charging port. When the protection portion is left open with the high voltage applied to the connection terminals of the charging port, water and/or foreign objects can enter the terminal portion due to wind and rain, for example, which can cause a leakage of electricity and/or a ground fault. This can lead to the occurrence of failure of the equipment and/or can affect the surrounding.
When a configuration as described in JP-A-2009-227218 is employed, in which a detector for checking the open/close state of each of the openable doors of the charging port(s) and the fuel inlet port, and a lock mechanism for, when one openable door is open, preventing another openable door from being opened, are provided, such a configuration requires a lot of additional equipment, which results in a complex system.